Fuel feed control for oil burners



Aug. 8, 1933- L. F. SPEAR FUEL FEED CONTROL FOR OIL BURNERS Filed Sept. 25. 1931 INVENTOR. Lcouw F SPEAK A TTORNEYS.

Patented Aug. 8, 1933 FUEL FEED oom'aor. FOR 011. BURNERS Leolyn F. Spear,

Westfield, Mass, assignorto Q Gilbert & Barker'Manufacturing Company,

West Springfield, Mass, Massae husetts a Corporation of Application September 25, 1931 Serial No. 565,139

Claims. (Cl. 137-68) This invention relates to improvements in the control of the fuel feed of oil burners.

The improvements of this invention have to do more particularly with the fuel feed for range 5 burners or the like of the class in which fuel is fed from an inverted bottle, orother container, into a cup or reservoir, in which the fuel is maintained at substantially a constant level and from which fuel is supplied to the burner. As the fuel level drops below the mouth of the inverted bottle, air enters the same and fuel flows out to build up the level in the reservoir until the fuel rises around and seals the mouth of the bottle,

when the oil flow normally stops. It is usual to 1 provide a valved cap for the mouth of such a bottle and a spring for normally holding the valve closed. It is also usual practice toprovide a stationary abutment in the reservoir which, when the bottle is inverted and placed therein, engages and opens the valve in the cap of the bottle just priorto the final seating of the bottle in the res'-.

ervoir.- This valve is thereafter maintained open whether the burner is in operation or not.

The fuel feed described is of an old conventional type. It functions satisfactorily r enough during normal operation of the burner but, under certain conditions which can and do arise, it is possible for flooding to occur. creating a possibly serious fire hazard.- For example, if .the bottle' so is only partly full andthe'burner isout of use for a considerable length of time, it is possible for the fuel in the bottle to be substantially en-' tirely expelled by a pumping action caused by repeated contractions and expansions of the air :35. in the bottle. On a rise in temperature, the air will expand and push some oil out of the bottle. When the temperature again drops, the air contracts and -a partial vacuum is createdin the bottle, which vacuum while lifting the liquid slightly in the neck of the bottle. actually draws air through the oil in the reservoir into the bottle. A succeeding temperature rise expands this increased body of air and expels more oil and a succeeding fall in temperature causes more air '45 t0 beadmitted t0 the bottle and so on until the oil in the bottle has been substantially all ex,- pelled. Flooding of the reservoir results and oil overflows on the floor, creating a dangerous fire hazard. Should one leave the burner unattended for several days and should there be a sumcient number of temperature changes, the described trouble will result.- Hence, it becomes highly important to provide an adequate safeguard against trouble from the cause above as. described.

i right hand end of Fig. 1;

similarly tov Fig. 2 but showing The invention has for its object to provide means for shutting off the oil flow from the bottle, when the burner is not in use and theparticular means, provided by this inventionfor the purpose, is characterized in that valve-opening abutment ismade movable and mechanism is provided for raising and lowering it to cause. opening and closing of the usual valve in the oil bottle. The invention requires no change in the oil bottle or in its the usual rigid cap or valve 5'' nor does it require the addition of any extra parts to the oil bottle. any of the standard bottles available in the market for the purpose may thereforebe' used without modification.

According to another feature of the movable abutment, which lifts to open the oil the invention, 7 7

bottle valve, may carry a supplementary valve which, when the abutment is lifted further, will engage in the outlet opening of the oil bottle and seal the same from outside the bottle. plementary valve is not usually necessary but it can be used where a higher degree of insurance against thedescribed trouble is required. Other objects will appear as thedetailed de- This supscription proceeds and will be pointed out in the so appended claims.

The invention will be disclosed with reference to the accompanying drawing, in which:

Fig. '1 is a top plan view of the constant level reservoir showing the vertically-movable abut- 35 ment for opening the valve in the cap of the fuel bottle and the means for moving such abutment; Fig. 2 is a sectional elevational view taken on the line 2--2 of Fig. l and showing the fuelbottle in place in the reservoir; Fig. 3 is a cross sectional view taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1:1 v i Fig. 4 is an end elevational view taken from the Fig. 5 is a fragmentary sectional view, taken the valve of the oil bottle in-open position; and

Fig. 6 is a view'taken similarly to Fig. 3 but showing still another position which the valveopening abutment may assume- Referring to the drawing; I have shown in fragmentary form enough of the conventional bottle-type, fuel-feeding system to enable the application thereto of the improvements of this invention to be readily understood by those skilled in the art. A supply of fuel is contained in a bottle 10 of ordinary form and having only a sin- 'gle opening, being the usualmouth opening in the neck 11 of the bottle. Threaded on the neck. 11 is a screw cap 12 having a central opening 13 normally closed by a disc valve 14. Located within the neck 11 and secured to the inner face of cap 12 is a cage 15, having openings such as 16, which permit constant communication between the interior of the bottle and the interior of the cage. The stem 17 of valve 14 extends inwardly in the cage and is slidably guided in the inner wall thereof. A coil spring 18 encompasses stem 17 and yieldingly holds valve 14 on its seat with opening 13 closed. The bottle is inverted and its neck inserted into the fuel reservoir. As shown and preferred, although not necessarily essential, the reservoir includes a main chamber 19 and a smaller chamber or cup, 20, interconnected by a small passage 21. The neck 11 is inserted into the cup 20 until the bottom of the screw cap rests upon the tops of two lugs 22 upstanding from the bottom of the cup. The bottle is supported by resting on said lugs and such support may be supplemented if necessary, in any of the usual and known ways. The reservoir chambers 19 and 20 are formed in a single member 23, fixed to a suitable supporting standard shown in part at 24. The chamber 19 has an outlet 25 adapted for connection to the burner.

According to prior practice, the valve 14 of the oil bottle would be opened by a stationary abutment, fixed to and upstanding from the bottom wall of cup 20. Such abutment would engage the valve disc 14 just prior to the time when cap 12 becomes seated on lugs 22 and would move the valve to open position during the final movement of the bottle onto its supporting lugs 22. The valve then remains open continuously until the bottle is removed from the reservoir. Also, the valve opens before the bottle is completely placed in position in the reservoir and does not close until the bottle has been lifted off its seat. As a consequence, there may be some splashing of oil during the placing of the bottle in position in the reservoir and during the removal of the bottle therefrom. Then there is the more troublesome feature, giving rise to a dangerous-condition, that the valve is always open while the bottle is in place and flooding of the reservoir may occur, as above described.

According to my invention, I utilize the usual valve opening abutment (herein shown as a pin 26) but I mount this pin for vertical sliding movement instead of fixing it to the bottom wall ,of the reservoir, as has been done heretofore. With a movable mounting of this pin, I can raise and lower it as occasion'may require and the valve 14 can be opened or closed at any time while the bottle is in place. The desired ."result is thus accomplished without requiring any change in the construction and arrangement of the standard oil bottle. The usual simple valve in the screw cap is or may be used and no supplementary valve in the bottle need be provided, as has been necessary in the prior art disclosures with which I am familiar. Moreover, the result is simply and inexpensively accomplished inasmuch as it requires no more than a simple lever and cam to effect vertical motion of the pin abutment.

The abutment 26, consisting of a cylindrical pin, is slidably mounted in a vertical hole 26' which underlies and aligns with the mouth of bottle 10. Fixed to this pin is a lever 27 (Figs. 1 and 5) which extends radially outward toward the wall of cup 20, then upwardly along said wall and then over the'top of said wall and radially outward to a point where it is conveniently accessible for use as a handle. The upper edge of the wall of cup 20 is formed as a cam. For example, there.

is a cam incline 28. When lever 27 is turned to the right as viewed in Fig. 4, it will ride up the cam 28 and be lifted, carrying up the pin 26 and causing it to engage and open valve 14 as shown in Fig. 5. The position of lever 27 shown in Fig. 4 is designated fill position in the drawing and the valve 14 is then closed and pin 26 lowered out of contact with it as shown in Fig. 3. At the upper end of cam 28 is a flat portion 29 and this is marked running" position for when lever 27 rests on portion 28, valve-14 is opento allow flow of oil from the bottle to the reservoir, whenever required. Whenever the burner is out of operation, lever 27 can be moved back to fill position and the flow of oil from the bottle will thus be stopped.

Instead of relying on the valve 14 to stop the flow of oil when the burner is not in operation, and thus prevent expulsion of oil from the bottle by expansion of the air therein, a supplementary valve 30 may be used for this purpose. Such valve may be fixed to pin 26 and arranged to seat like a stopper in the opening 13 of screw cap 12. A second cam 31 is provided, terminating with a flat portion 32, marked stop. After lever 27 has been moved torunning position to open valve 14, it may be moved further to the right and caused to ride up cam 31 onto the flat 32. This lifts pin 26 to a higher lever, causing a further opening of valve 14 and moving valve 30 into the opening 13 to seal the same, as shown in Fig. 6.

This additionallift of pin 26 may be and preferably is enough to cause the bottle 10 to be lifted slightly from its seat on lugs 22. That is, the pin forces valve 30 into opening 13 and then lifts the bottle slightly through cap 12. In this way, the weight of the bottle and its contents presses the cap 13 into tight engagement with valve 30. A very effective seal results and'provides a higher degree of insurance against escape-of oil from the bottle than when sole reliance is placed on valve 14. The latter alone, however, is usually eifec-- In operation, the bottle 10 is filled and the screw cap 12 applied thereto. The bottle is then inverted and its neck inserted'into the cup 20. It is to be noted that there is little likelihood of valve 14 being accidentally opened during the act of putting the bottle in. place in the reservoir because the valve is located inside the screw cap and has no parts projecting outwardly therefrom which can be struck and cause the valve to open. The bottle is inserted into cup 20 until cap 12 seats on lugs 22. .This is done while lever 27 is in fill position. Consequently, pin 26 cannot strike valve 14 and cause an opening thereof. Thus, no oil can escape from the bottle while it is being placed in position in the reservoir, and there can be no splashing of oil in the reservoir as might happen in cases where the abutment is fixed and opens the valve just prior the burner is stopped, all danger of flooding by expulsion of oil from the bottle, due to the alternate cooling and heating of the air in the bottle,

is eliminated by moving lever 2'7 back to fill"' position, thereby causing valve 14 to close. Or, if the supplementary valve 30 is used, the lever is moved to stop position and pin 26 moved upwardly far enough to force this valve, like a stopper, into opening 13.

The invention affords a very simple and inexpensive means which can be applied to any oil reservoir of the class described without much modification and which will accomplish the de-- sired results very effectively by cooperation with the usual closure valve of the oil bottle. An important consideration is that no change in the oil bottle or its cap and valve is required. It is simply necessary to movably mount the valve opening abutment, which has heretofore been stationary, and provide any suitable means for raising and lowering the abutment.

What I claim is:

1. In a fuel feeding system for oil burners, a reservoir having an opening in its top and an outlet opening for connection to the burner, an open mouthed oil receptacle mounted in inverted relation with the mouth portion extending downwardly through said opening into the reservoir, a perforated closure for the mouth of said receptacle, a spring pressed valve in said receptacle normally closing said perforation, an abutment in said reservoir to engage and open said valve,

and means for lowering said abutment to cause said valve to close and for subsequently raising it to open said valve.

2. In a fuel feeding system for oil burners, a reservoir having an opening in its top and an outlet opening for connection to the burner, an open mouthed oil receptacle mounted in inverted relation with the mouth portion extending downwardly through said opening into the reservoir, a perforated closure for the mouth of said receptacle, a spring pressed valve in said receptacle normally closing said perforation, an abutment in said reservoir to engage and open said valve, means for lowering said abutment to cause said valve to close and for subsequently raising it to open said valve, a second valve carried by said abutment and operable on continued raising of the abutment to close said perforation from the outside of said receptacle while the first named valve is open.

3. In a fuel feeding system for oil burners, a reservoir having an opening in its top and an outlet opening for connection to the burner, an

open mouthed oil receptacle mounted in inverted relation with the mouth portion extending downwardly through said opening into the reservoir, a perforated closure for the mouth of said receptacle, an inwardly, opening spring-pressed valve mounted on said closure and normally closing said perforation, an abutment in said reservoir to engage and open said valve, and means for lowering said abutment to cause said valve to close and for subsequently raising it to open said valve.

4. In a fuel feeding system for oil burners, a reservoir having an opening in its top and. an outlet opening for connection to the burner, an open mouthed oil receptacle mounted in inverted relation with the mouth portion extending downwardly through said opening into the reservoir, a perforated closure for the mouth of said recep tac'le, a spring-pressed valve in said receptacle normally closing said perforation, an abutment mounted in the reservoir for movement in the direction of the axis of said valve and aligned therewith, and means for moving said abutment from a position in which it lies out of contact with said valve to a position in which it engages said valve and lifts the same from its seat.

5. In a fuel feeding system for oil burners, a reservoir having an opening in its top and an outlet opening for connection to the burner, an open mouthed oil receptacle mounted in inverted relation with the mouth portion extending downwardly through said opening into the reservoir, a perforated closure for the mouth of said receptacle, a spring-pressed valve in said receptacle normally closing said perforation, an abutment mounted in the reservoir for turning movement and for vertical sliding movement in a path substantially in alignment with the axis of said valve, and a lever fixed to said abutment to turn the same and extending upwardlyto the top wall of the reservoir and then outwardly over and beyond the same, said wall having a'cam surface thereon for raising and lowering the lever as it is turned back and forth, whereby said abutment may be raised and lowered to open and close said valve.

LEOLYN F. BPEAR. 

